Lifting and moving device



June 24, 1958 A. E. DU MOULIN 2,340,346

LIFTING AND MOVING DEVICE Filed Feb. 15, 1954 I 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 301IIHHIIITII 4 rroxuEY United States Patent LIFTING AND MOVING DEVICEAlbert Emil Du Moulin, St. Paul, Minn. Application February 15,1954,Serial No. 4111 13116 1 Claim. (Cl. 254-10) This invention relates to alifting and moving device, and particularly to a device for use in aplace of business for easily moving an article of equipment, such as, a

desk. It is a common practice to move ofifice equipment frequently andit is desirable to have a device with which a single operator would beable to easily lift and move about equipment, such as desks.

It is an object of this invention to provide a lifting and moving devicefor moving ofiice equipment.

It is another object of this invention toprovide a lifting and movingdevice which can be lowered to have placed thereon oflice equipment,such as a desk, and which can be operated by a single operator to easilymove said equipment about.

It is a further object of this invention to; provide a movable devicefor lifting and moving equipment, such as a desk, comprising a framegenerally rectangular in plan, casters supporting said frame, a secondframe above said first frame, means for pivotally supporting said secondframe above said first frame, means for holding said second frame in araised position, and means for urging said second frame to a loweredposition when said last mentioned means is released, I

It is a more specific object of this invention to provide a moving andlifting device comprising a framefg'enerally rectangular in plan, spacedcasters supporting'said frame, a pair of longitudinally spaced shaftsextending transversely of said frame and being journaled thereinto, sup-ICC Fig. 6 is a view of a portion of applicant's device taken on line6--.6.of Fig. 4, as indicatedby the arrows.

' Referring to the drawings, applicants device is shown in operatingposition in Fig. 1 having thereon a member 10, here shown to be a desk.Said desk here disclosed is of the common variety generally in use.Referring to Fig. 2, applicants device is shown comprising a lowersupporting member 11. Said member 11 is disclosed. as a framesubstantially rectangular in plan and being formed of angle barsdisposed to have their flanges form upper horizontal and outer verticalsurfaces. Said member 11 has side portions 11a and 11 a front endportion 111; and a rear end portion 11c. The adjacent ends of saidportions are joined so that member 11 is'formed as a rigid unit. Saidmember 11 is provided with a pair of crossmembers 11d and lle formed assubstantially fiat elongated bars having their ends respectively securedto sides 11a and 11) of said member 11. Said member 11d is spaced ashort distance inwardly of portion 11c and member He is spaced somedistance inwardly of portion 11b. Said members 11d and 11e are providedas bracing members to add rigidity to said member 11. Said member 11 issupported by a set of casters 12 which are shown to be four in number. Apair of 'said casters are respectively provided at the rear end cornersof said member 11 and'are secured thereto and to the adjacent portionsof memberi lla' in any suitable manner,.as, by welding. Another pair ofsaid casters 12 are respectively secured in like manner to said member11 adjacent the points of intersection of the. respective ends of memherHe and the portions 110 and 117. Said casters are of a common variety,and the wheels 12a thereof may be formed of any suitable material, suchas metal, fiber or rubber. Said wheels 12a are journaled in yokes 12band said yokes are rotatably secured to holding plates 12c. Respectivelysecured to portions 11a and 11 of member 11 and spaced longitudinallythereof, are bearings 13. These are a common type of plain bearings andare secured to portions llaand 11] in any suitablemanner, as by metalscrews 14. Extending transversely between said portions 11a and 11f andspaced longitudinally thereof, are shafts 15 and 16. Said shafts arehere disclosed as, being in the form of tubular rods having portingmembers spaced longitudinally of said. shafts and secured thereto, asecond frame generally rectangular in plan adapted to be disposed abovesaid first frame, a pair of longitudinally spaced shafts extendingtransversely of said second frame and journaled thereinto', said lastmentioned shafts being respectively substantially in aliriement withsaid first mentioned shafts, said last mentioned shafts beingrespectively secured to said siipportf ing members whereby said secondframeis pivotally supported above said first frame, means forreleasingly holding said second frame in said raised position,andresilient means for urgingsaid second frame toa lowered positionsubstantially in contact with said first; frame when said last mentionedmeans are released- These and other objects and advantages of theinvention will be fully set forth in the following; description made inconnection with the accompanyingdrawings in which like referencecharacters refer to similar parts throughout the several views and inwhich: Y

Fig. 1 is a view of applicants device: in sideelevation shown inoperating position;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of applicants device with someparts brokenaway; 1 r Fig. 3 is a view of applicants device'in front elevation,

1 frame member 20 is provided similar in structure to memand the sameare j'onrnaled in said bearings 21.

ber 11 and having side portions 20a and 20b, a front end portion ZOcanda rear end portion 20d. Saidmem= ber 20 has secured thereto bearings 21.Said bearings are identical in structure to bearings 13. Said bearings21 are secured to member 20 in substantially the same positions thatsaid bearings 13 are secured to said member 11. Said bearings 21 areherein disclosed as being secured to said member 20 by welding. 'Shafts22 and 23 are provided extending transversely of member 20 Said shaftsare identical in structure to shafts, 15 and. 16. Said frame 20 isadapted to be placed above frame. '11 and said b'earings'21 and shafts 22 and .23. will be respectively in substantially verticalalinementwithbear- Fig. 4 is a broken view of applicants device takenfonings 1 3 and shafts 15 and 16*when said meniber llli'sjin verticalalinement with said member '11. Said shafts and 23 arerespectivelysecnred to members 1711 and 18a, asfby welding. Hence it isseen that member'zfi is'piv'o't 7 any secured said members' 17 and 18and when moved engage the same.

forwardly will move downwardly until it is substantially in contact withthe upper surface of member 11. A resilient member ,25 is providedhaving a clamp..25a securedto'one end portiongand said clamp issecuredto said shaft 23 intermediate its ends and the other end 256- of saidmember 25 is secured to member lle intermediate its. ends, Said endportion 25b is disposed through asmall aperture provided in said memberlle. Said member 25 is here disclosed as a tensile coil spring anditwill tend to urge said member, downwardly and forwardly. lmA'bracket'28is provided'comprising spaced side portions 28a secured to the front endof porti'on llb, as by welding, and being disposed at right angles toportion 11b. A member 30 is provided and herein is disclosed as anelongated cylindrical handle member having a lower T-shaped end portion30b disposed between said lugs 28a and is held pivotally securedtherebetweeri by a nutted bolt 28b disposed transversely through saidlugs and said end portion 30b. Hence said handle 30 is pivotally securedto said bracket 28. A U-shaped bracket 32 is provided secured to anddepending from portion 'llbin alinementwith said bracket 28 and at rightangles thereto; 7 l A lever34 is provided having one end portion 34aformed a's'a clamp and being adapted to be clamped about and secured toshaft 22 intermediate itsends. Said member-34 is here disclosed as beingformed of a T- i shaped metal bar and being concavely curvedlongitudinally thereof. The other end portion of said member 34 isprovided with anotch 34b adjacent said end portion. A pin 34c isdisposed through said member 34 transversely thereof between said notch34b and the end operator will hold the handle member 30 with somepressure against the bracket 38 to control the speed with which saidmember 20 is moved forwardly. When said member 20 comes to rest in itslowered position substantially in contact with the upper surface ofmember 11, the operator will move applicant's device to a positionbeneath said article 10. The operator will then grasp the end portion ofhandle 30 and will lift it and move it upwardly and rearwardly. Theoperator will then engage roller 38b and frame 20 with said handle andwill move said frame upwardly and rearwardly to engage and lift saidarticle 10. As said frame 20 is thus moved, said member 34 will be drawnrearwardly through bracket 32 until said notch 34b engages the bottomportion of bracket 32, and said member 20 will then be locked in araised position. The point at which handle 30 engages roller 38b acts asa fulcrum point so that while the upper portion of said handle is movingframe 20 and the article thereon rearwardly, the lower portion of saidhandle is acting to pull the frame 11 and casters 12 forwardly. Hence asa result of the simultaneous movement of frame 20 upwardly andrearwardly and of the lower frame 11 forwardly, a substantial amount ofweight can be left on said frame 20 with comparatively a small amount ofeffort. Said member 20 in its raised position is slightly forward of aposition in direct vertical alinement with member 11. Hence when it isdesired to unload said article 10 the operator will again depress thefront end portion of member 36 until lever 34 is disengaged from bracket32 and the weight of said article 10 itself will thenmove said member 20forwardly and downwardly. The forward movement of frame 20 can begoverned by use of handle 30. Applicant's device can then be easilywithdrawn from its position beneath said article 10.

Thus it is seen that I have provided a very efficient v lifting andmoving device which enables a single operator forms a lever. Said member36 is pivotally secured to one'side of said bracket 32 by a pin 38 Therear end portion 36b of said lever 36 is curved upwardly and inwardly atright angles, as shown in Fig. 6, so as to extend transversely of member34 and be adapted to The front end portion of said lever 36 extendsoutwardly for. some distance. A resilient member 39 is provided and ishere disclosed as a coil spring having its lower end secured to lever36a short distance in front of said pin 38 and having its other endsecured to one of said lugs 28a. Hence it is seen that member 39 willhold the front end portion of lever 36 upwardly.

Said lever 34 may be provided with a plurality of notches 34b. As heredisclosed, when said member 34 is in its upward position with itsnotched end portion secured in bracket 32, said member 20 will be heldin a raised position just slightly forward of exactvertical alinementwith member 11.

Secured to portion 20c in vertical alinement with bracket 28 is abracket 38 similar in structure to said bracket 28. Said bracket 38comprises side members 380, a roller 38b disposed between said sidemembers and a nutted bolt 38c disposed transversely through said rollerand said side members.

In operation, when it is desired to move an article of ofice equipment,such as desk 10, the operator will place applicant's lifting device.adjacent one end of said desk. The front end portion of lever 36 will bedepressed with the operator's foot. Portion 36b of said lever 36 will toquickly-and easily move about heavy articles of equipment, such asoffice desks, and a substantial savings in cost is effected by making itpossible for a single operator to do this work. Ap'plicants device hasbeen placed in commercial use and has proved to be very successful inoperation.

It will of course be understood that various changes may be 'made in theform, details, arrangement and proportions of the parts, withoutdeparting from the scope of applicants invention, which, generallystated, consists in .a device capable of carrying out the objects aboveset then be raised andwill engagethe underside of lever 34' will raiseit until said notch 34b is disengaged from bottomportion of bracket' 32.Said member 25 will then urge member 20 forwardly and downwardly. The

forth, in the parts and combinations of parts disclosed and defined inthe appended claim. What is claimed is:

A lifting and moving device having in combination, a -supporting framegenerally rectangular in plan, spaced 'casters supporting said frame, ahandle pivoted to one end of said frame centrally transversely thereof,a second frame above said first frame, means connecting said frames forpivotally raising and supporting said second frame above said firstframe, a roller carried at the front end portion of said second frameforming a fulcrum engageable by said handle, whereby said handle forms alever to raise andlower said second frame, a lever having one endpivoted to said second frame at a point somewhat rearwardly of the frontend thereof, a bracket depending from the front end portion of saidfirst frame in vertical alignment with said handle and having said levermovable therethrough, said lever having a lower portion engageable insaid bracket, said lever when engaged in said bracket being of a lengthto hold said secondframe in its raised position just forward of its deadcenter position in relation to its supporting means, and means wpreventthe withdrawal of said lever from said;bra.ck et,;a second lever pivotedto one side of said bracket, having-,a forwardly extending foot engagingportion, a spring connecting said foot engaging portion. to said secondframe normally to hold said lever in an References Cited in the file ofthis patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Gordon Oct. 9, 1883 Arnold Dec. 9,1884 Smith May 19, 1885 Wilson Aug. 28, 1888 Hooper et al. Apr. 25, 1899Alderson July 4, 1950

